The present invention relates to a massage device for treating acute and chronic microcirculation disorders in warm-blooded beings.
DE-A 4 408 867 discloses a massage device which, on a housing that can be held and guided in the hand, has an active surface which is connected to the housing so as to pivot about an axis. This active surface is cylindrical, the axis of rotation of the cylinder coinciding with the pivot axis. When the active surface is pressed against a body area that is to be treated, the skin touched by the active surface, and the underlying tissue, are set in oscillation by friction parallel to the body surface. The amplitude of the oscillation is predetermined here by the structure of the massage device.
DE 4 443 756 D1 describes a massage device with an active surface whose radius, measured from a pivot axis of the device, differs in different directions. This device is a large-format fixed device in which the patient places an entire body part such as the lower leg on the active surface, so that the body part to be treated essentially as a whole follows the movement of the active surface. Since the position of the patient relative to the device cannot be readily changed during treatment, the movement transmitted from the device to the body part to be treated is always the same during a treatment session.
The object of the present invention is to create a versatile and therapeutically highly effective massage device. According to the invention, this object is achieved with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.
The present invention makes it possible, by means of simply changing the orientation of the active surface of the massage device with respect to the tissue to be treated, to modify the amplitude of the pivoting movement. Surprisingly, this modulation of the amplitude permits a considerably longer-lasting and deeper therapeutic action, in the treatment of disorders associated with impaired microcirculation, than is possible with the conventional techniques. Tests revealed significant relief or even total disappearance of the symptoms, even in patients who did not respond to the conventional methods.
Indicated uses for the device according to the invention are therefore cases of painful or tensed musculature, musculoskeletal disorders of the nervous system, support and movement apparatus, chronic abuse of alcohol, medication and drugs, acute traumas, following surgical interventions, but also in cases of chronic diseases of the rheumatic type, psychiatric disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, gout, diabetes, cellulite, Sudeck""s syndrome, brain pressure, vertigo, Mxc3xa9nixc3xa8re""s disease, circulation problems, pain, tumors, apoplexy, tactile and sensory hypesthesias and paresthesias, sensory stimulation, environmentally induced diseases and all changes affecting the matrix.
It is preferable that the radius of the active surface changes continuously over at least one area thereof. This makes it possible to exert on the tissue, in addition to the surface-parallel movement, an oscillating pressure of identical frequency. This pressure is not distributed uniformly over the patient""s body surface contacted by the active surface, but instead increases in the direction of greater radii of the active surface. In this way, a pressure gradient is generated rhythmically in the tissue, by means of which tissue fluid is pumped through the tissue parallel to the surface. This pump action makes it possible to increase the throughput of body fluids such as blood or lymph through the treated tissue zones, and thus to significantly improve the supply of nutrients to the tissue and the breakdown of metabolic waste products.
The invention can be designed as a fixed device as well as a hand-guided device. A particular advantage of the hand-guided device is that the user can, with the same hand guiding the device, detect the hardened area of the treated tissue and, by simply turning the massage device about the axis of the active surface, adapt the amplitude of the massage movement to the detected degree of hardening or rhythmically vary the amplitude.